According to our calculations Melbourne, like all of Australia, has much to gain from the shift to electric cars and buses. This could mean the halving of Australia’s transport emissions – at little or no extra cost to the economy.

However we are not yet seeing EV policies in Victoria that will really drive transport emissions reductions – and while Hon Anthony Carbines MP did encouragingly state that the next few years will see more happen in this area in Victoria, unfortunately had no new EV policy news to share on the night.

This is surprising, as this shift would make an ideal partner to Victoria’s new renewable energy target. This is because the costings and modelling show that:

existing transmission infrastructure would be adequate, and

the cost to provide 100% renewable energy to power the charging infrastructure more than offset against the massive current and projected spending on petroleum.

Offering so many advantages, and with the cost:benefit ratio looking better all the time, we hope we will soon see Victorian EV transition policies to match or exceed Qld, NSW, NZ, Adelaide … or even the rest of world!

Many thanks to everybody who joined forces on the program for our November 2nd launch: thank you to:

AVASS for bringing the e-bus,

Bede Doherty and Kristian Handberg for the TESLA and BMWi3

the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity for hosting the event and supplying the venue, and

the Victorian BZE team,

Thanks to our guest panelists and speakers:

Professor Peter Doherty AC, Nobel laureate and Professor of Immunology University of Melbourne. Peter Doherty is also a National Trust Australian Living Treasure and the author of many science books for the non-academic reader including The Knowledge Wars